Study Human Psychology to Help You Navigate Treacherous Situations
You need to learn to be street-smart about people – especially if you’ve always been the type of person who easily trusts others. All bets are off when you’re in a bug-out situation. When the world has turned chaotic, you can forget trust.
Remember the phrase used in survivalism “Are you ready for TEOTWAWKI?”
TEOTWAWKI – “The End of the World as We Know It” A catastrophic event that destroys the existing institutions and norms of society.
No one is going to be on their best behavior – especially unsavory individuals. In fact, these people will be the first to loot, the first to steal from others, and the first to make a bad situation worse.
Related – The Ultimate Guide to Survival Lessons – Cleanliness, Defense, First Aid. Lessons #8-10
It’s in your best interest to know human psychology so that you’ll be able to deal with these kinds of people. You need to know body language.
The type of body language a person is using can tell you upfront who you’re dealing with.
People who are out to steal from you or hurt you always have a way of projecting that intent. Look at how they’re dressed. Believe it or not, what someone is wearing can give you a clue into their nature and intentions.
Someone who isn’t dressed for survival can be a desperate person. If you come across someone wearing clothes that aren’t warm enough for the situation or wearing clothes that stand out, that means they didn’t prepare beforehand.
If they didn’t prepare their clothes, they probably didn’t prepare their supplies.
Pay attention to their posture. People whose body is tense or aggressive can be a clue that they have adrenaline running on high.
They could be about to make a move. See if those whose mannerisms are jittery. That could be a sign of nervousness – but it could also be a sign of addiction – and people addicted to substances can be unpredictable.
Observe the way people pose their arms. Arm position can signal that someone is belligerent or angry. Look out for people who approach who keep their hands hidden. They could be holding a weapon.
You’ll also want to take the expression on someone’s face into consideration. A facial expression can give you a lot of insight into human psychology. There can be noticeable expression like anger or there can be absolutely no emotion.
Both can be equally dangerous. One could present as someone who flies off the handle, and the other as someone who may have sociopathic tendencies. Trust your gut instinct when it comes to treacherous situations.
Read this – Read This Before Buying a Gun
Your intuition can usually read a person quickly. If your gut tells you you’re in danger, you probably are – and you should be prepared to defend yourself. Studying human psychology can help you understand what others are prepared to do in desperate situations – and how you can negotiate with them if and when the time comes.
I’m the daughter of 2 original survivalists who moved from the north to sunny Florida. My mother, along with her parents, bought 30 mostly uncleared acres in 1938. The first home was made of pecky-cypress and built by a house-raising. My mother raised 10,000 chickens.
My divorced mother met and married my father in 1948. From pine trees on our property, he hand-built a log cabin. He also built a tarpaper-lined 65’x45′ pool with duck pond overflow. We had an artesian well for our water and powering our hand-built waterwheel for the pool. He built a substantial cantilevered roof workshop with a car pit in the massive cement floor.
Since my early teens, I have read a ton of books about survival, prepping, the bomb, an apocalypse, homestead living, and SHTF situations. As an adult, I continue to read sci-fi, survival prepping, and science. I practice a prepper lifestyle albeit a bit modified, read a lot, buy a lot, pack/store a lot of anything survival related.
Read my About Me post for more details on our self-sufficient living. I lived there until I went to college in 1968.
My SurvivalPrepperSupply.com blog strives to educate individuals on coping with natural and human-caused disasters using article posts about preparing for emergencies.
